ABSTRACT
Until relatively recently, options for the rehabilitative treatment of convicted adult firesetters were limited. The recently developed firesetter intervention programme for prisoners and a version for mentally disordered offenders (FIPP and FIP-MO, respectively) mark a significant turning point and reflect a new way of thinking. However, this is a rehabilitative approach. I argue that we need to be seeking a more holistic and, indeed, sociological solution which takes account of how fire is socially constructed; early intervention is at the heart of this. More specifically, I suggest that we should be supporting young people to form a healthy relationship with fire from an early age which could, potentially, prevent them from ever engaging in criminalised forms of fire use. This requires a change in messaging surrounding fire, which can be achieved not only through structured intervention but also on a wider societal level. In this chapter the treatment and intervention implications of the continuum of fire use conceptualisation and, specifically, the continuum of fire use theory (CoFUT) are considered.
